


Appreciation

by cardiac_arrest



Series: Hit It Hard [2]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Volleyball, but THIS time mitch is a libero GASP, look theyre volleyball players again, maybe ?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-30 22:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19412782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardiac_arrest/pseuds/cardiac_arrest
Summary: “You okay?” Auston asks, taking the sweating bottle of beer out of Mitch’s hands.Mitch looks up at him dazedly, as if he was in a trance. And then he’s looking down, down, down. He frowns at the bar. He says over Travis’s cackle, “yeah. I’m awesome.” Then he turns to his right to strike up a conversation with Mo.Auston lets him be. If Mitch is feeling good enough to talk to someone, then Auston won’t try to coddle him. But he makes sure to hold him extra tight when they go to bed later that night.





	Appreciation

**Author's Note:**

> heyyy this was originally posted on my tumblr, but i liked it so i fixed it up a little and now im posting it. this has NOTHING to do with the previous fic and the specifics of their club and who's in their club doesnt really matter. mainly, the whole premise is that mitch is a libero and liberos deserve more love. 
> 
> also, here's a few facts about vball that might make the fic easier to understand:  
> 1\. vball consists of winning 3 sets out of 5 sets, with the 5th set being a tiebreaker set that goes to 15 points  
> 2\. a set is won when a team scores 25 points (its actually a little more complicated than that but thats arbitrary for the fic)  
> 3\. both teams can score points. you want to score 25 points first to win the set.  
> 4\. a libero is a defensive specialist that is not allowed to hit/make offensive plays/basically score points  
> 5\. i really love liberos

Auston first notices Mitch acting a bit odd during November. He sees a peculiar tightness in his smile, something glazing over his eyes that cause the clear blue hue to go hazy. It’s an action that only happens on the court, during their team huddles after a point gained or lost. It’s also quick, that flash of  _ wrongness  _ gone before Auston really gets to categorize what emotion Mitch is feeling and why he felt it. But it doesn’t seem to affect Mitch’s volleyball or his life outside of the game, so Auston lets it go. He chalks it up to plain old fatigue of playing the sport and plans to herd Mitch to bed earlier. 

The next time that Auston feels worried about Mitch is during January. The last game they  played had been a pretty bad loss, losing 3-0 to a team that they really should’ve beat. They probably would have won if their defense had been half as extensive as it usually was. They’re out in some random bar celebrating the New Year when Mitch shuts down. Auston’s confused; they haven’t been out for very long and they’re only with their teammates. Mitch usually only crashes after being surrounded by people they were unfamiliar with after several hours.

“You okay?” Auston asks, taking the sweating bottle of beer out of Mitch’s hands. 

Mitch looks up at him dazedly, as if he was in a trance. And then he’s looking down, down, down. He frowns at the bar. He says over Travis’s cackle, “yeah. I’m awesome.” Then he turns to his right to strike up a conversation with Mo. 

Auston lets him be. If Mitch is feeling good enough to talk to someone, then Auston won’t try to coddle him. But he makes sure to hold him extra tight when they go to bed later that night.

It all comes to a head during a game in March. 

Mitch has been playing his best volleyball, averaging around two and a half digs a set. Coach Hoag has been quite proud, but he doesn’t mention it in words. It’s all dealt in quick smiles and excited high-fives. Despite Mitch soaring in his defensive game, Auston has seen a decline in everything but volleyball. That includes Mitch’s health. And it’s not like he was the only one to notice; Mo and Travis and JT and Jake and Fred and  _ everyone else on the team  _ has asked him about Mitch’s dark under-eyes and the down-turned corners of his lips. Auston hasn’t been able to give them an answer. 

Auston has been waiting for the right time to talk to Mitch, so he wouldn’t stress him out even more. But the game they’re playing goes bad. They’re still in the first set, which means they have lots of time to win the match, but they’re down 16-8. It doesn’t look good. One of their tougher servers launches one directly at Mitch. It wipes off Mitch’s arms and shoots directly out of court. A shank. They’re now down 17-8. Coach calls a timeout. Auston catches a glimpse of Mitch’s face as they head to the sidelines. Mitch’s eyes glisten under the bright lights, his face flushed pink and eyes rimmed red. Auston shares a look with Mo, and decides to stage an intervention afterwards instead of the weekend conversation he was going to have with Mitch. 

Later, when they’re changed after their loss, Auston waits for everyone to trickle out of the changing room. He sits at his sparse stall and looks at Mitch, who’s stuffing all his finger tape and compression sleeves into his bag. Mitch turns around to Auston. 

“You ready to go? Everyone else is gone,” Mitch says. His voice is rough. His eyes droop down. 

“Yeah, sure,” Auston hums. He stays in his stall with both arms behind his head. Mitch zips up his bag and slings it over a shoulder. “You know what? Come here for a sec.”

Mitch looks at him with confusion. It would be adorable, but the tiredness and hurt in his face makes Auston very, very sad. Mitch walks to him slowly, dropping his bag on the ground when he makes it there. Auston sits up properly and motions Mitch to come closer. 

“Come sit on my lap. Gotta talk to you,” Auston says and pats his thighs. Mitch frowns but complies, sitting down so he’s facing away from Auston. 

“What now?” 

Auston nudges his nose into the crook of Mitch’s neck and shoulder. He inhales. 

“What’s wrong, Mitchy?” 

Mitch shivers. “Nothing. What are you talking about?” 

Auston’s hands wrap tighter around Mitch’s waist. He’s starting to squirm. 

“Don’t lie. What’s with all the not-sleeping and not-socializing? Everyone’s pretty worried, including me.” He presses a kiss to Mitch’s neck. 

“Nothing, man. Just wanted to focus on volleyball.” 

Auston stops. “Volleyball? You’ve been playing fucking ace these past few months. I think you’re good, Mitchy Mouse.”

Mitch stiffens, and Auston knows he’s about to bolt. He makes sure to wrap his arms around Mitch’s entire torso so he has nowhere to go. 

“I haven’t been playing well. If I played better, we wouldn’t have lost today.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? You were the reason we didn’t lose even more horrifically.” 

“Yeah, but, there were  _ so  _ many saves I could’ve made. It’s all my fault!” 

Mitch sniffles. Auston’s heart drops into his stomach. 

“Mitch– _ baby _ , don’t you ever think it’s your fault that we lost. Volleyball is a sport with six people on the court. It depends on the whole team. No one thinks it’s your fault. You make saves all the fucking time, maybe it’s our turn to pay you back and value them more.” 

Mitch doesn’t say anything.

“Hey,” Auston says softly. “Are you crying?” 

“No,” Mitch says through a blocked nose. 

“Okay.” 

They stay like that until Auston’s ass goes numb sitting on the wooden bench, Mitch in Auston’s lap. It takes ten more minutes for Mitch to shift so he’s facing Auston. He can see the faint track from Mitch’s tears. He kisses both of Mitch’s cheeks. 

“Let’s go home,” Mitch says. He’s been clutching onto Auston. He sounds a bit better. 

“Okay,” Auston smiles. 

They go home.

**Author's Note:**

> okay so basically the whole fic was supposed to be like mitch feels obligated to try and make a defensive play for every. single. point. and that's not really realistic? and also i wanted to kind of hint at how mitch didn't feel very appreciated, because it's just so normal for his team to see mitch making a GREAT save. and yeah. i think about that all the time when i watch vball. because im nonathletic. lmao.
> 
> anyways, thanks everyone for reading! if you liked it, please leave a kudos. and if you really liked it, leave a comment down below (i really like those)! tell all your friends, and come scream with me on tumblr @mitcheemarns


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